Keys bound for Christmas vacation

[phatdaddy]

spare, i gotta second what ferm said about the key deer. we would take our kids and play " deer poker". who ever saw the most deer on their side of the road won. just go to big pine late in the afternoon, turn behind the winn dixie and follow the main road to no name key. i believe its a left then a right. go to the no name pub about dark and have a pizza and the conch fritters. it'll take about 2 hours. then go play deer poker on the way home

[spareparts]

took those who would get off their *** to Curry Hammock State park today, very nice place, its got the cheapest kayak rental around, I didn't rent one as I had the kids with me. Got back to the house and went pin fishing off the dock, couldn't get anything to take shrimp off of a hook. My oldest said she wasn't a good fisher-person, i told her its never the person with the rod, it the wrong tide, wrong season, wrong moon phase, wrong bait, wrong current, wrong wind, wrong anything, but its never the person holding the rod.... I got to teach them right.

Tomorrow I thing there may be an electrical issue at the house, taking out the air conditioning and cable tv

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

Tomorrow I think there may be an electrical issue at the house, taking out the air conditioning and cable tv

Gotta watch them electrical issues Spare... next thing you know you'll have to take them somewhere because it's unbearable in the house.

Funny thing about those issues though.... they always seem to clear up after you come back from an outing....

[spareparts]

got everyone out of the house today, we went by the Turtle Hospital and made reservations to come back at 3. we rode down the Islands, stopped at a park facility right at the 7 mile bridge. It had a nice ramp on one side of the highway, on the ocean side, there was a nice beach with picnic tables and clean facilities. Kendall and I went wading in the water, no one else was game. After playing there for a while, we rode further down. Bahia Honda state park must be the place, the line getting in there was so long they had a highway patrolman directing traffic. We didn't stop, it looks real nice from the highway. We rode past Randlemans hide out at the Big Pine Key fishing lodge, looks like a nice place. We made it back to the turtle hospital, Kendall loved it. She kept raising her hand to ask question to the tour guide. The had 27 turtle in pens for rehabilitation, 14 of which were permanent residents due to various issues, the rest were scheduled for release once they were given the all clear. We all had a good time there, I would have loved to drop a line in one of the big turtle holding pens, it was loaded with drum and snapper. Ended up eating at the Island Fish Co., food was decent, prices were about what we expected. Stopped at the grocery store to replenish my Beer inventory, if you think gas is high down here, wait till you price beer. BTW, diesel in the islands was cheaper than it is at home in Charleston, go figure

[reelapeelin]

That is amazing re the diesel prices down there...not so much the beer prices!...lol...Glad y'all found a park you could enjoy for a little while...what's the water temp down there?...

That turtle program sounds like a great stop...kids or not, I'd like to see that...are the snapper etc in the pens for turtle food??...I can see your dilemma!!...

[THEFERMANATOR]

Is the turtle program still down on the island south of MARATHON? If so that is where they used to film the show FLIPPER at back in the day.

[spareparts]

we went to the dolphin place today(dolphins.org), its a little north of us. Thats where they filmed flipper. The turtle place used to be a motel that had a big interactive aquarium, that's where the turtle pens are now, and why those nice fish were in there, I swear, there were the biggest mullet I've ever seen swimming in that pen. The dolphin place was ok, but it was expensive, and they were up selling your "experience" if you wanted to swim with the dolphin, it was $200 per person, the dolphin experience was like $300, and the researcher for the day was like $695. For the place to be a "not for profit" research center, they sure didn't have any issues charging you. We did the basic $20 per person deal, I was a bit disappointing considering the cost. We rode back up to Salt Water Sportsman(bass pro), ate a snack at the Zane Grey restaurant(over rated bar), I did look at some cool boats at the dock(pics for later). The wind kicked up bad today, a cold front came thru and the high was only 70, wind was blowing at least 20 knts. I tried fishing int he canal again, the cold front shut everything down, couldn't get anything to bite cut shrimp